Cold Husband Burning Regret: The Divorce He Couldn't Handle novel Chapter 323

Charlotte stood frozen, her eyes locked with his shadowed, brooding gaze, a flicker of guilt surfacing in her chest.

Loretta couldn’t hide her glee. “Mr. Howard, you heard her—she said it herself. She claimed she doesn’t love you—”

“Enough.”

Evander’s eyes blazed, bloodshot and cold. “Get out.”

Loretta shivered, snatched her purse from the table, and hurried from the private dining room. She moved as if her life depended on it, terrified that if she lingered even a second longer, she might not make it out alive.

Charlotte pressed her lips together, turning her face away to avoid his look of defeat and sorrow.

Evander halted in front of her, his eyes rimmed red, a bitter laugh rattling from his chest. “So, that’s how you really feel?”

She still wouldn’t meet his gaze. “If that’s what you think, then sure.”

He studied her for a long moment, then asked quietly, “Do you hate Jonathan Pembroke?”

Confused, Charlotte finally looked at him. “Why would I hate him?”

A shadow settled over his features. After a moment, he murmured, “So you don’t hate the man who orchestrated everything from the shadows, but somehow, I’m the only one you blame? Charlotte, am I really the only one you can be so cruel to?”

She froze, only now comprehending the deeper meaning behind his words.

Did she hate Jonathan? She wasn’t sure. Maybe she did—but nowhere near as fiercely as she hated Evander.

A bitter laugh slipped from her lips. “You really think the pain an outsider causes can compare to the pain from your own husband?”

“So hurt from outsiders doesn’t count as real pain?”

“You can’t compare the two!”

Charlotte’s anger flared. “Evander, even if Jonathan was the man behind Tricia, none of them could’ve hurt me, or the Sterling family, without your silent approval. Do you need me to remind you how you treated me, right in front of Tricia? You thought if I just kept quiet, played by the rules, didn’t compete with her, didn’t provoke her, I’d be safe? I did everything right, and yet here I am, left like this.”

She pulled up her sleeve and revealed the scar on her right forearm. “You let her get away. You couldn’t bring yourself to hold her accountable. Well, I can.”

Evander’s chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. Tears glistened in his bloodshot eyes as his voice came out hoarse. “So, no matter what I do, it’ll never be enough. Nothing I do can make it right, can it?”

“If I’m not really the Rayburns’ daughter, then why was the Rayburn family’s gold coin bracelet in Dad’s possession? He kept it from me because he was afraid I’d refuse to acknowledge you and you’d have no one to take care of you in old age. Well, I’ve found my birth parents now, and I’m not going back to that miserable life. What more do you want from me?”

Staring at her daughter’s cold, unrecognizable face, Candida seemed to go numb.

The child she’d carried and raised for nine months was now willing to deny her own parents over a bracelet made of gold coins.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Candida pleaded, “How could you think that way? Why do you think your father let you pretend to be Mr. Howard’s savior? It was all for you! We finally have money now; we don’t have to live in poverty anymore.”

“Oh, that money? Did he ever let me spend it? The first time I took a hundred grand, he screamed at me, even hit me. That’s not something a real father would do.”

Loretta turned to leave, but Candida grabbed her arm. “If you don’t believe me, we can get a DNA test. You’re my child, I know it!”

“I’m not going! Let go—” Loretta shoved her away with all her strength.

Candida lost her balance and tumbled down the stairs.

Loretta could only stand there, frozen in shock at what she’d just done.